Barra and Laguna de Potosi

Barra and Laguna de Potosi are located several kilometers to the south of Zihuatanejo and the Ixtapa Zihuatanejo airport. This out-of-town beach and lagoon area is very popular with the locals and national tourists and provides a more traditional, down-to-earth and less glitzy view of the Mexican lifestyle than the more populated beaches in and closer to town.

Lagoon at Barra de Potosi

There are two access routes to the area, the main one being from the town of Los Achotes along highway 200 to the south of the airport. It provides the easiest and most direct access, and is paved. On this road you’ll pass the Laguna de Potosi nature preserve which is well worth a stop to wander through its confines and see examples of native wildlife and regional vegetation.

The second route, dustier but infinitely more picturesque, is accessed by taking a turn to the right just before reaching the entrance to the airport. The dirt road skirts the airport, heading north-west in what seems to be the wrong direction, since Laguna de Potosí is at the southern end of the long white stretch of beach known as Playa Larga and Playa Blanca. Once the road makes the turn around the airport, however, you’ll end up on the beach road and will be heading south.

Numerous new homes, restaurants and both small economy and posh boutique hotels and condominium complexes are going up along this beachfront route, although it is still largely undeveloped with large stretches of open land and wide beach can be seen. Vegetation is sparse along this stretch of beach — largely grasses and low scrub  punctuated by pockets of palms and tropical flowers in the more populated areas.

Arriving in the village of Barra de Potosí, there is a large parking area in the palm grove. The beach is lined with enramadas or enrramadas – sparsely thatched palm-roofed structures affording shade during the hot day.

Barra de Potosi restaurants

The enramadas offer a wonderful variety of food, especially fresh seafood such as whole huachinango (red snapper), oysters, shrimp and abalone as well as other typical Mexican dishes. They also give you the opportunity to have a cold beer, soda or natural refreshments such as fresh coconut milk, hibiscus or tamarind water.

Many of the enramadas are festooned with colorful paper or plastic cutouts and colorful frills during the Christmas-New Year holiday season.

Though not normally so, crowds can be thick on weekends and holidays and there are often numbers of tents strung out between the enramadas, where the campers take advantage of the food and facilities under the palms. Musicians wander through the restaurants periodically, serenading hungry diners for a low per-song fee. Venders of balloons, coconut oil and candy, nuts and other snacks ply their wares in and around the restaurants. Several kiosks offer colorful and cool beach attire.

One of the attractions of Barra de Potosí is the large lagoon, where you can tour the mangroves and watch the intense birdlife in small boats. Birdwatching in this area is an astounding experience, where quantities of waterfowl are to be seen at close quarters. Kayaks can be rented at several of the restaurants as well. These provide a perfect, silent transport for a both relaxing and invigorating birdwatching trip through the lagoon and mangrove maze.